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As chapters in a Champions League adventure go, this could hardly have been less romantic. Better sides than Leicester will fall at Estádio do Dragão, and it spoke warmly of their achievements that Claudio Ranieri could afford to field a skeleton lineup for what could have been their toughest Group G assignment, but the aftertaste was not meant to be this bitter.

There was more at stake for Tottenham Hotspur than securing their place in the last 32 of the Europa League next February – the merits of which continue to feel dubious – and Mauricio Pochettino knew it. How else could his team selection have been explained?